AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



515 



thing must be in readiness, and there 

 should be no delay if the transferring is 

 a success. 



When everything is ready, smoke the 

 bees to intimidate them and put them on 

 their good behavior. Give them a few 

 moments' time to fill up their sacs with 

 honey ; it will be so much out of the 

 way, and a loaded bee never volunteers 

 an attack. Remove the gum and place 

 a similar one where it stood, to receive 

 the bees returning from the fields. If 

 the gum is not taken into a shop, and 

 the work is done out-of-doors, it had 

 better be removed a rod or two, to be 

 out of the way of the bees, as all escap- 

 ing ones will return to their old stand. 



DRIVING THE BEES. 



When the hive has been removed, in- 

 vert it and place over it the forcing-box, 

 and wind around cloth of some kind 

 where they join together to prevent the 

 bees from escaping, and then rap on the 

 gum sharply for a period of 20 to 30 

 minutes, when the bees will be found 

 clustered in the forcing-box like a new 

 swarm, and could be placed on their old 

 stand, and the bees that have returned 

 from the fields shook from their gum in 

 front of the driven bees, so they v/ill all 

 join together. If it is noticed in a short 

 time that the bees are running over the 

 box it is evidence that the queen is not 

 with them, and great care must be taken 

 in removing the combs, that she is not 

 crushed or injured in any way. 



REMOVING THE COMBS. 



When the nails holding the cover are 

 cut or pried up, as soon as there is space 

 enough to insert a knife the combs 

 should be cut from it so it can be re- 

 moved without breaking the combs. If 

 possible, cut the support^ ; it might be 

 done with a little saw ; cut the combs 

 loose with the knife, and then lift off 

 the gum, and the combs will be left 

 standing entire, just as in the old gum. 

 Do not take them apart any faster than 

 they are fitted into the frames. Lay a 

 large comb, if there is any, upon the 

 folded muslin, and lay a frame upon it, 

 making the size a trifle larger than the 

 frame; spring it over it, and wrap 

 twine around it to hold it in place until 

 the bees can fasten it in. 



Little splints can be tacked on tlie 

 side of a frame, and small pieces laid in, 

 when splints can be tacked upon the 

 upper side. 



Brood should be handled very care- 

 fully, and not a cell destroyed, for the 

 profit of the colony during the coming 



season depends upon it; it should be 

 placed together, and the frames contain- 

 ing it, in the center of the hive. 



Drone-comb should be left out, and 

 drone-brood fed to the chickens ; they 

 will enjoy it. As fast as the frames are 

 filled, they should be hung in a hive. 



When all is completed, change the 

 frames to a clean hive if they have 

 dripped very much, for the bees will be 

 longer reaching the brood, which will 

 need their care at once. Their sacs are 

 full of honey, which they filled when 

 they were intimidated with smoke, and 

 they will have to store it away before 

 they can clean up the drip, and if it ran 

 from the hive, it would induce robbing. 



CHANGING LOCATION AND QUEENS. 



The location can be changed, and bees 

 will adhere to it just as they do when 

 they swarm. Therefore, place the hive 

 with the transferred combs, either upon 

 the old stand, or upon a new one, and 

 jar the bees in front of it, either upon a 

 cloth or a clean, smooth board, and they 

 will gladly enter it. 



If the bees are blacks, and you desire 

 to change them to Italians, you could 

 pick up the old queen as they enter the 

 hive, and drop the new one in its place, 

 and there would be no questions asked, 

 as their attention will betaken up filling 

 up holes and repairing breakage. In 

 about ten days remove the strings and 

 splints. If a new queen has been in- 

 troduced, do not open the hive as soon 

 as you otherwise would, for they some- 

 times kill a new queen when they are 

 disturbed. — Prairie Farmer. 



Blacl M Hytiril Bees. 



CHARLES GUTH. 



On page 384, Mr. Chas. White refers 

 to the stinging qualities of the blacks. 

 There is nothing that will beat them, 

 except the hybrids. I have the black 

 and hybrid bees, and as for stinging 

 qualities there is no difference. My bees 

 are very gentle and easy to handle. I 

 have handled bees in the movable-frame 

 hives without smoke or a bee-veil. The 

 only trouble is in putting the frames 

 back— the bees are too much in the way. 

 On that account it is better to use a 

 smoker. 



I will admit that the blacks will get 

 strong enough to swarm when they 

 should work in the sections, but that is 

 only in some years. My bees, in a good 

 honey-flow, fill, or partly fill, the surplus 



